OLWG #76- Spirits

 This week’s prompts are at the bottom. The flash fiction, below, was written for practice.  Practice makes perfect.

Here’s how to play along, if you are unsure.

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It had been a long night for Ace Addison. He’d picked up Janis before six and they told her parents that they were going to grab a bite at Buzz Burgers and then go catch that new action movie at the Palace Theatre, downtown. They did get burgers but they didn’t go to the show. They went instead to The Point.

Ace and Janis had been going steady for almost two months. They had discussed tonight for a couple of weeks and had agreed that this was the time. They were going to do it. They were going to go all the way. They had planned it, to make it perfect. Ace had bought and brought flowers, chocolates, and condoms. He believed he had everything covered. Janis had told him that she was still committed. That this was something she wanted to do, but at the last minute, she changed her mind.

Ace got pissed off and he drove away leaving her at The Point. He left angry and talked some college kid into buying him a bottle of tequila at Leo’s Liquors. Before long his conscience got the better of him and he drove back The Point to look for Janis. Hell, she liked tequila and he could offer her a few drinks – try to talk her into reconsidering.

A quick search didn’t turn her up though. Janis was gone. He was certain that she was going to be mad at him too. She might even want to break up. Ace didn’t want to break up. He liked Janis and maybe he had pushed a little too hard for this. He could wait. He hoped he hadn’t fucked things up too bad.

Now despondent, and maybe still a little resentful, Ace drove to the old churchyard. He parked next to the rusted wrought iron fence that ran along Ash Lane that marked the eastern edge of the cemetery. He turned KZYA up loud and started drinking while he listened to the Rockin’ Randy Reeves show. After a few long hours of raucous music and more than a few long pulls on the bottle, he passed out. Ace wasn’t a very experienced drinker. When he woke it was cold, dark and quiet. To make matters worse, his car wouldn’t start. He remembered that the radio had been cranked and he figured that he had killed the battery. He scooped up his precious bottle of spirits, got out of the car, and hopped the fence into the graveyard. He hoped he could find a service station on the other side and get someone to give him a jump.

So, Ace is sipping tequila and walking through Potter’s Field. There’s a fog moving in. He looks at his watch and sees that it is midnight, straight up – The Witching Hour. A tapping sound falls on his ear, tic tap tic, and he sees the faint glow of a lantern on the other side of a small rise ahead. Steeled by tequila and against his better judgment, Ace ventures to investigate; fearing that it might be a haunting. Drawing near he spots an old man with long matted grey hair and a matching beard. The gaffer’s got a hammer and chisel. He’s concentrating as he chips away at a headstone, a monument that’s spotted with moss and grime from the years.

Ace speaks up, “Hey?”

The old man turns his head and looks at the boy, “Hey, yerself lad.”

Relieved to find it’s simply a caretaker Ace laughs and says, “You scared me; I thought you were a ghost. What are you doing working in the middle of the night?” he takes another pull from his bottle.

The old man grins at him, exposing ill-kept teeth, “Those idiots can’t never get nuthin right,” he says, “they misspelt me name.”

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This week’s prompts are:

1. tell me about it
2. blue mesa
3. you would if you loved me

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Go ahead and dive in, set your imagination free!
Write something
Ready, Set, Go – you have 25 minutes, but if that is not possible, take as long as you need.

Have fun